Political pop that could actually change the world

[imomus]

Eminem Mosh. He says 'Fuck Bush'. He says 'No more blood for oil'. He says 'Kerry on, give me hope'. He says 'Vote on November 2nd'. And the imagery in the video says a lot more. A message like this, from a star as big as Eminem, could actually change the outcome of the US election. Who says pop music is all neutered, spayed and tame? Who says that nothing anyone says makes a blind bit of difference? As brilliantly political as anything Bob Dylan did at the height of the 60s protest boom. Positively Brechtian.

Comments

[typefiend.livejournal.com]

Never cared much for him until this single (though I give him his proper as a mixtape rhymeslayer). The beat and flow sticks in your head.

[johnnyshades.livejournal.com]

the "Rock the Vote" campaign has been a source of controversy, in that many people feel that the kids who are urged to vote are extremely uninformed as to what they're about to do. it's admirable that mtv is encouraging it's viewers to vote, but in an era of shoddy reality shows and "Pimp My Ride," they could do a little bit more to educate their audience. it's horrid to think that 18-year old eminem fans will watch this and immediately vote Kerry, and just as equally horrifying that 18-year old Jessica Simpson fans will watch her video and vote Bush. not that jessica made a politically-inspired video, but the door of idol worship swings both ways.

ITS viewers to vote!

[johnnyshades.livejournal.com]

err, sorry for the contraction error.

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

What's even more horrifying is that those 18 year olds voting for Kerry are basically going to guess the rest.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

The ending of the video is particularly insightful; clearly the forces in authority in the USA do not want Americans to have a venue to gather and express their desire for change, or they wouldn't be locking up peaceful protestors en masse.

pop music is all neutered, spayed and tame...

[caoilte.livejournal.com]

...which is why the album won't be released until Nov 16th and another single has been chosen for first release and music television circulation.

Re: pop music is all neutered, spayed and tame...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Really? I thought this was the big comeback single.

Re: pop music is all neutered, spayed and tame...

[kiplet.livejournal.com]

Except that "Mosh" is getting played on MTV right now (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/26/175639/68) and is in the TRL lineup, thanks to viewer requests.

[thevulgartrade.livejournal.com]

Eminem has always prided himself in trying to push the boundaries of free speech, but I don't think he's done it right until now. Sure, you may get a lot of press and people trying to censor you for saying you want to kill your mother and your ex-wife, but it's not until you actually make a bold statement about something that applies to more than your own life that you're actually pushing those boundaries. He's a very talented wordsmith, so I'm sure he's got some intellect: I'm delighted to see he's really starting to use it.

revolution USA

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.revusa.net/main.php

This site has been around for a while. You might get a kick out of it. I like the featured TV sheriff video.

Protestant Music

[xyzedd.livejournal.com]

'Tis a fair wind of change, though I wish it were less monotonous and morose and more upbeat and catchy, so it would really stick in any potential voter's mind. I'm not saying the lyrics have to change--but to decant the vitriol into a prettier vial. (Then again, this might displease the majority of fans and defeat the purpose. Still... ) Why can't a political song be as musically contagious as something like "Funkytown" or "Tom's Diner" or--dare I say--"The Sadness of Things"?

When was the last time a politically aware song was genuinely catchy? The Beatles' "Revolution"? Harry Belafonte's "Man Smart, Woman Smarter"? The "Ode to Joy"?

Re: Protestant Music

[hunchentoot.livejournal.com]

I find myself singing "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" as covered by They Might Be Giants. Fuck Martin Van Buren!

[autokrater.livejournal.com]

woah..haven't heard that eminem song! that is pretty crazy. i doubt that it will change much though. i think people who have made up their minds to vote for bush will just scoff at it and not think otherwise. people who will vote for kerry will just be like "yeah fuck bush" but i don't think it will change. maybe among some young people it will..but only a few will actually go and research what kerry is about before voting for him.
that is the sad thing..many americans just seem like they want to be told who to vote for. and basically that is what celebrities and such have to do...i wish americans weren't so lazy. go look up everything you can about a candidate before you vote for them!!
i mean, saying stuff like "bush is straightforward in his choices,he is the man for the job so i am voting for him"..do you even fucking know what he is doing as president? did you grab that line off a campaign add?
and as for kerry, it's just as sad.
like i don't think half of the young people would be voting for kerry if they actually researched him. he voted for the war twice!and the fucking patriot act! but younger people are just like "oh well he didn't think the war would go bad, he didn't know"
it's war dude..it always goes bad.

oh man, i have ranted..sorry about this.

[hunchentoot.livejournal.com]

I wrote a letter to my Michigan senators before the vote on Iraq, and among other things I promised not to vote for anyone supporting the war resolution (Michigan's two senators voted against Bush's plan). When it comes down to voting for someone who helped pass it instead of someone who spearheaded the effort, though, I have to eat my words in order to get Bush out of there. To continue the theme of getting commentary from celebrities, Bill Maher on Larry King said something like: John Kerry is macaroni and cheese, but Bush is dirt and spit. Which one do you want to eat?

8 Mile to the Polls

[transient-poet.livejournal.com]

Have you seem 8 Mile the eminem story? Sure his music is fucked up, but he also admits it is a persona, a kind of perfomance art. And if you view his pop success form that perspective he becomes a radically fascinating character. Sorry to give away the ending, but 8 Mile concludes, with the main character going home to get some rest before he has to return to work the next day to support his little sister who has been essentiall abandoned by their mother.

The point of a lot of his violently agressive lyrics is to point out the absurdity of contemporary culture. This is VERY different from 2Pac Shakur who wrote eloquent and beautiful poetry about the upliftment of woment and the strength of the female character while he went around raping them.

KRSOne's life, who grew up homeless, is an amazing story about the ability of art to raise you above your given circumstances. The Beastie Boys have increqased the awareness of the plight of the Tibetan people to a whole generation of young people.

I know its often trendy to take a certain pleasure in disparaging hip-hop(and pop-culturegenerally), but if you actually take the time to delve into the culture you can find brilliant art, writers, painters, poets, activists, dancers, everything.

A good friend of mine teaches a rap composition class to innercity youth. It is a way to give these kids who otherwise have little going for them a means of artistic expression that they understand.

Hip-hop is a culture.

It is a powerful thing.

One love.

[sonjabrains.livejournal.com]

Any path to change is fine? The fact that kids are voting for Kerry because Eminem rehashes everything that MTV says is okay? MTV has the "Vote of Die" campaign that consists of playing two clips from both Kerry and Bush together. In one example the basic message is that drug-abusers are given harsher sentences than supposedly more serious crimes. Kerry's clip obviously supports that idea while Bush's clip has him supporting the crackdown on drug offenders. Next up, an Anti-Drug commericial! Talk to your friends about their drug problems! Smoking weed will make you kill your friends! Eminem's message is "brilliantly political?" It's about as brilliantly political as my well-informed, desperately liberal friends (who take take their cues from the likes of Claire Danes. Who didn't like "My So-Called Life?").

This is regardless of my own personal views. I don't even like Bush.

[(Anonymous)]

Bush's website (http://www.georgewbush.com/) is blocked (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3958665.stm) to anyone outside the US, as of Monday.

[odyshape.livejournal.com]

Why is this? Have they (Bush's campaign responsibles) given any explanation?

[yanatonage.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize he was saying "Kerry on", I believe it was just "carry on". Perhaps I'm underestimating him. And in the last line he says "Mister president, mister senator.." before the children say, "are you guys heros?" I took that to mean there was subtle Kerry-bashing going on. The video is very good-looking, however.

I agree with the fellow who said "Just Lose it" was lame, but to be fair, "My Name is" and "The Real Slim Shady" were both really lame too. It's Eminem policy to release a catchy, corny song as the first single of his album. It's seductive and disarming and one of his smarter tactics. "Just Lose It" seems like it's just intentionally bad though, doesn't it? If I had to guess I'd say it was just meant to throw people off track before "Mosh", which he knew would make headlines.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, of course it's 'carry on'. But I think he's using the assonance thing to drop some subliminal endorsement in there. Remember, Bush 'won' the last election with 500 odd votes. Eminem has 16 million listeners.

[(Anonymous)]

I admire the thought of using music to bring attention to important issues, etc etc etc and all of that. But this is honestly a dull ghastly song. I don't see how it's as political as Bob Dylan's 60s protest classics, it doesn't even compare, it's not even on the food chain.

Dylan and 60's folk may have cited specifics but that music moved the masses because of the revolutionary sound of it all, stripped-down untreated raw guitars, cavernous world-weary everyman vocals, subversive psychedelic leanings and all. It was urgent and of-the-people and new and transcendent.

Without looking at a lyric sheet "Mosh" feels like a dirge, it's not hypnotizing and it's not energizing and it certaintly doesn't move me towards anything but the bed. The beat is slow and dumb, the piano line sounds like phoney hollywood 'sad music', and the rapping is awkward and forced. This is simply and unattractive piece of music, at least it is to me.

Good for Em tho. Hopefully the elections will draw attention to his new single.

Adam

[xyzedd.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Wouldn't it have been much more subversive for Eminem to release a protest song as absurdly catchy as "Without Me"? Iron fist in the velvet glove, anyone?

[badspelling.livejournal.com]

thing is, you can get all excited about the possibilty of change--as I did after watching 'mosh'--but then you read these comments (http://www.mtv.com/news/youtellus/topics/e/eminem/102504.jhtml) and it kinda takes the wind out of your sails.

are these people really living in the same world as me?

though perhaps the most frightening thing about reading this is the dawning realisation that most of these people are of voting age.

[(Anonymous)]

though perhaps the most frightening thing about reading this is the dawning realisation that most of these people are of voting age.

It's sad, but to be expected.

Most of Eminem's singles seemed to be more or less exercizes in ego-boosting and artistic narcissism. I think people have a hard time accepting sweeping political statements from someone who's offered self-grandure and self-publicity for most of his career. Certainly those who disagree with the statements in the first place.

Adam

(That, and it's not catchy enough -- the biggest sin in pop!)

[w-e-quimby.livejournal.com]

At least in America, entertainment and politics don't seem to mix well. The populace likes to divide its admiration into categories, and just because you're admired in one way does not necessarily mean that you will be admired in another. Unfortunately for Eminem, he has become the pop cultural icon and standard bearer for white-rappers or whites who like rap music but have fervent beliefs geared towards the right.

[runstaverun.livejournal.com]

Its much much better with the video. And he got a guy from Guerilla News Network to direct the video for him, so it had a pretty decent chance fo coming out good. now ;ets hope that the upper end of his 14-22 audience gets out there.

ILM questions motives of Momus

[(Anonymous)]

Nick, sorry to be off topic, but there's murmurings re: your sanity over at ILM again...

nothing new.

http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5183772

[aristoprat.livejournal.com]

Yes, pop could change the world and people's opinions. If you think about it, since everyone is exposed to the mainstream, it's only pop that can change the world. Since only stupid people vote.

But political statements in music can also backfire and bite you hard in the arse. Like in the beautiful 80s, Bruce Springstine released Born In The USA. It was a song about the poor treatement of Vietnam veterans. And what did the Democrats do? Took the song as their campaign soundtrack. They didn't actually listen to the song or read the lyrics. It was the chorus that went "I was born in the USA" over and over and they thought it was patriotic. So you have to be careful in this field.

Black Sheep

Springsteen....

[(Anonymous)]

If I remember correctly , it was the Republican's campaign that used "Born in the USA" and Springsteen politely asked them to stop (while willfully NOT endorsing any candidate).
Caught your point about stupidity, politics, and pop music....but be extra careful when you bring it up. Come correct, (Don't go blaming the wrong party.) right?

Justin